Fitbit launches Ionic smartwatch, wireless Bluetooth headphones

San Francisco: Health and fitness wearables firm Fitbit has officially introduced Fitbit Ionic -- its long-awaited smartwatch with built-in GPS and wireless Bluetooth headphones called Fitbit Flyer.

The Ionic smartwatch would cost $299.95, while the Fitbit Flyer wireless headphones will cost $130. Both would be up for sale starting October.

Fitbit Ionic features water resistance of up to 50 metres, all-day heart rate sensor, contactless payments and an application platform.

The smartwatch also promises up to four-day battery life with features such as sleep tracking and includes a relative "SpO2" sensor which is missing from the Apple Watch, a report in 9to5Mac said.

"The new `SpO2` sensor measures blood oxygen levels and could be used to discover sleep apnea in the future," the company was quoted as saying by 9to5Mac.

The smartwatch also includes 2.5GB of local storage for syncing around 300 songs for offline playback.

The new Fitbit Ionic smartwatch features a touch display with brightness up to 1,000 nits for outdoor use.

Users can also swap the bands to change the style.

Similar to how Apple partnered with Nike and launched Apple Watch Nike+ version of its smartwatch, Fitbit would partner with Adidas on a "special edition" version of the Ionic in 2018 along with specialised training programmes.